Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs
June 21st 2009 02:57
Category: No Category
Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs
Last night my friend Jerry and I had dinner at a new restaurant, well new for us, called Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs. Long name, small building, unbelievably good food. I could not believe I'd found food as good as any as cooked by my Sicilian family.
Last night I had Chicken & Shrimp Fra Diavolo. For those of you who don't know Fra Diavolo is a spicy, tangy and extremely tasty sauce made by the Italian community for many dishes. Usually it is a seafood dish and it is always, when made right, outstandingly delicious. Last night was no exception, although the chicken in the dish was nothing to write home about, and there wasn't all that much shrimp, which was very well cooked, the sauce was to die for! As many of you know I love spicy food, and this was one of those dishes that was so good I wanted to buy a pint of the sauce to take home with me, but refrained. One thing I must warn you of, if you are lucky enough to go to this restaurant, don't add extra red pepper flakes to the sauce until you taste it. I made that mistake, but fortunately, I still enjoyed it. In the future, when I go there it will be difficult not to have this wonderful dish again, but I'd probably want it without the bother of chicken or shrimp, possibly I'd have it with muscles, shrimp and clams, or just with pasta. I love this sauce, can you tell?
All right now the rest of the evening. The restaurant is small, crowded, and garishly decorated with murals on all the walls, these murals are all of New York, I think, showing mobsters, gambling and other street scenes. These murals, while somewhat garish, are not the best painted I've ever seen, and the one in the bathroom is absolutely terrible, I had trouble telling one of the models hair from a tree trunk. The art while leaving a lot to be desired did a wonderful job of setting the scene for the meal, the lights were too bright, the service was adequate, the breads were good and plentiful, the salad typical, it had the usual iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice, an onion slice and the house dressing, a tomato vinaigrette, which was so so.
Jerry had Chicken Parmigiana with Zita pasta and marinara sauce. Since he ate every bite and was wiping his plate with the bread I can only assume it was good. Actually I tasted some of his marinara sauce before he devoured it, and have to say it was one of the best I've ever tasted. It tasted of fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs, whether or not it had either is beside the point, that's how it tasted. If you like marinara sauce this is the one that everyone aims for but rarely achieve.
The desert case was beautiful, they specialize in New York cheesecake, and while I resisted and believe me it was hard, everything looked good and very fresh, not something that had been in the case for days or even hours.
No wine unfortunately as I would have loved a good glass of Chianti with my meal but had to settle for a glass of weak ice tea, which was the one extremely irksome part of this meal. I love tea, I make good tea, and hate a bad cup of tea, whether iced or hot, tea should have flavor, lots and lots of flavor. This didn't. In the future, I'll have water or coffee but not iced tea. By the way this was the only part of the meal that I didn't enjoy.
The restaurant, while small and crowded, was fun, I enjoyed watching the people around us, the couple with the little girl. She reminded me of stories from my childhood of me and my sister being fed in our high chairs, diapers and bibs, nothing else, except being surrounded by newspaper, eating our pasta with our fingers and leaving a mess all over the dining room. This little girl was priceless and helped make a great meal even better.
The pizzas that were served looked not only wonderful but huge, they were large, sold either by the slice or a whole pizza and I promised myself to someday order one to go so I can enjoy one at home watching TV and drinking a good glass of Chianti.
If you are ever in Longview, Texas, look up Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs on McCann Road, it's worth the visit.
Lunch prices are reasonable, with a wide variety of choices and dinner prices are reasonable, but not extremely cheap. My dinner was $12.95, Jerry's was $9.95. Not too bad.
Last night my friend Jerry and I had dinner at a new restaurant, well new for us, called Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs. Long name, small building, unbelievably good food. I could not believe I'd found food as good as any as cooked by my Sicilian family.
Last night I had Chicken & Shrimp Fra Diavolo. For those of you who don't know Fra Diavolo is a spicy, tangy and extremely tasty sauce made by the Italian community for many dishes. Usually it is a seafood dish and it is always, when made right, outstandingly delicious. Last night was no exception, although the chicken in the dish was nothing to write home about, and there wasn't all that much shrimp, which was very well cooked, the sauce was to die for! As many of you know I love spicy food, and this was one of those dishes that was so good I wanted to buy a pint of the sauce to take home with me, but refrained. One thing I must warn you of, if you are lucky enough to go to this restaurant, don't add extra red pepper flakes to the sauce until you taste it. I made that mistake, but fortunately, I still enjoyed it. In the future, when I go there it will be difficult not to have this wonderful dish again, but I'd probably want it without the bother of chicken or shrimp, possibly I'd have it with muscles, shrimp and clams, or just with pasta. I love this sauce, can you tell?
All right now the rest of the evening. The restaurant is small, crowded, and garishly decorated with murals on all the walls, these murals are all of New York, I think, showing mobsters, gambling and other street scenes. These murals, while somewhat garish, are not the best painted I've ever seen, and the one in the bathroom is absolutely terrible, I had trouble telling one of the models hair from a tree trunk. The art while leaving a lot to be desired did a wonderful job of setting the scene for the meal, the lights were too bright, the service was adequate, the breads were good and plentiful, the salad typical, it had the usual iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice, an onion slice and the house dressing, a tomato vinaigrette, which was so so.
Jerry had Chicken Parmigiana with Zita pasta and marinara sauce. Since he ate every bite and was wiping his plate with the bread I can only assume it was good. Actually I tasted some of his marinara sauce before he devoured it, and have to say it was one of the best I've ever tasted. It tasted of fresh tomatoes and fresh herbs, whether or not it had either is beside the point, that's how it tasted. If you like marinara sauce this is the one that everyone aims for but rarely achieve.
The desert case was beautiful, they specialize in New York cheesecake, and while I resisted and believe me it was hard, everything looked good and very fresh, not something that had been in the case for days or even hours.
No wine unfortunately as I would have loved a good glass of Chianti with my meal but had to settle for a glass of weak ice tea, which was the one extremely irksome part of this meal. I love tea, I make good tea, and hate a bad cup of tea, whether iced or hot, tea should have flavor, lots and lots of flavor. This didn't. In the future, I'll have water or coffee but not iced tea. By the way this was the only part of the meal that I didn't enjoy.
The restaurant, while small and crowded, was fun, I enjoyed watching the people around us, the couple with the little girl. She reminded me of stories from my childhood of me and my sister being fed in our high chairs, diapers and bibs, nothing else, except being surrounded by newspaper, eating our pasta with our fingers and leaving a mess all over the dining room. This little girl was priceless and helped make a great meal even better.
The pizzas that were served looked not only wonderful but huge, they were large, sold either by the slice or a whole pizza and I promised myself to someday order one to go so I can enjoy one at home watching TV and drinking a good glass of Chianti.
If you are ever in Longview, Texas, look up Joe's Pizza & Pasta and Subs on McCann Road, it's worth the visit.
Lunch prices are reasonable, with a wide variety of choices and dinner prices are reasonable, but not extremely cheap. My dinner was $12.95, Jerry's was $9.95. Not too bad.
| 38 |
| Vote |
